Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Souls of Shadow
by CyndersWrath
Summary: A Spiritomb finds themself in the world of Pokemon with no recollection of their past. When adventure drags them along anyway, they meet a lifelong friend and fight the evil force threatening to bring the world into a dark age. But to find the answers to their own mysteries, they'll have to uncover that which hides deep within the shadows.
1. Prologue

"Sir?"

I stepped closer to the open door, heart racing.

"...Sir? Are you there?"

A voice rumbled from within.

"...Enter."

The voice was quiet, calm even, but it still shook me to my very core. Hesitantly I did as it commanded, and the owner of the voice came into view as I moved to the center of the room. At first the window behind him caught my attention, but my sight drifted back to him to find that he was staring directly at me.

"It is good to see you. I hope your trip was not dangerous."

I shook my head. "I'm fine, sir."

"That is good," he replied. "Tell me, why have you made this journey? I did not summon you."

I nodded. "Yes, sir, I... well, I have something on my mind." I hesitated again. Was this really a good idea?

"By all means, tell me." He gestured for me to continue.

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I have... concerns over your previous decree."

He sighed. "We have already been over this. I am not changing my mind on the matter."

"But sir-"

"Enough!" His voice boomed in the confined space. "I will hear no more of this."

I held my ground. "Sir! It can't be our only option! We have to find another!" I stepped forward. "Do you not remember what happened the last time?"

"Of course I remember what happened. It concerns me greatly. I wish for nothing more than to be able to have prevented it, but that does not matter now."

"It _does_ matter, sir! What happened before, what makes you think it won't happen again? It has failed before, many times, but not on this scale!"

"I am perfectly aware that what we are dealing with requires measures beyond what we have. But that is our issue: it is _beyond what we have_. You act like I do nothing to stop this threat, yet I am doing everything in my power. I cannot do any more."

"Are you? Are you perfectly aware? Because you're not acting like it. You're acting like we just didn't do it enough times. You think that if we can send enough at the issue that it will go away. I'm telling you that it isn't working."

"We have no other-"

"What happened to them is inexcusable. We threw them in with the expectations that we could just let them work and hide in our corners, forgetting that there's even an issue. And now _they're_ the ones paying the price." I scoffed. "Look at us. Demanding respect from everyone in the world, yet all most of us do is force others to save it when it's in trouble. And that's when some of our members aren't actively preventing our plans because they've been 'offended'. We're pathetic. Not just those specific members. _All_ of us."

We were silent for some time after. I kept my gaze on him, noticing how he refused to do the same to me, instead keeping his head down. He eventually breathed a heavy sigh and gave me eye contact again.

"...Perhaps you are right. Perhaps I am too set in my old ways to realize that they will not work anymore. Perhaps there _is_ more we can do." He looked toward the window. "Our enemies have grown wise to our tactics. We must adapt in order to survive."

"Does that mean that there are other options?" I spoke calmly, desperately trying to cling to a sense of professionalism while excitement bounced around within me.

"Yes... there is another option. I discussed it with the pertinent members and we agreed to keep it confidential, but now I believe that it is time to use it."

"What is this option?"

"They have been doing research on the... nature, shall we say, of our enemy. They recently made a breakthrough that they say may be enough to drive them back forever."

"What is it? What did they find?"

"They did not tell me. They still have little information. It is part of the reason why we elected to keep it secret, in the hopes that they could determine more about it."

I became concerned when he said that he did not know what it was about. "Did they tell you anything at all?"

"They told me that they would need you."

"M-me? What could I do to help?"

"'You are the kindest and most caring of us all.' That is what they told me."

I felt flattered to hear this, but I was also confused. "Why does it matter that I am kind or caring?"

"It is as I said. That is all they told me, and I know nothing else. All I can tell you now is to trust them."

I sighed. "Yes, sir."

"I will contact them shortly to discuss the change in plans. Afterwards they will get in touch with you to meet with them. They can tell you much more than I."

I bowed and took my leave, exiting through the same door that I had entered from only moments ago, no less unsure of the future. What was this new option he was talking about? Who was doing research on our enemies? How could you even stand to get _near_ them long enough to do so?

All I knew for sure was that I had hope that whatever they were doing was far better than what we had planned.

It couldn't be worse.

It just... it just couldn't be.


	2. Gateway

I felt tired. Very tired. I was comfortable sleeping as I was forever, yet there was something compelling me to open my eyes, something irresistible. When I did, I found more darkness.

Alright, so nothing much changed. Oh well. After blinking a few times to ensure that I actually had opened them, I looked around for anything that stuck out, but it was nothing but black. I seemed to be standing, and yet at the same time I was afraid to move in case I suddenly plummeted, but for all I knew, I already had.

"Weird dream..." I said to myself. It had to be a dream, right? It couldn't be anything else.

Then I heard something.

"Hey!"

The voice reverberated throughout the area, as though it were coming from every direction at once. I still couldn't see anything.

"Ah, it's so good to see you! I finally found you! You're needed in our world, and we haven't got time to waste. Let's get going!"

Everything was happening so quickly that I hardly had any time to process it. The one speaking, was it someone I knew? I couldn't recall knowing anyone who had a voice like I was hearing. In fact, I could remember hardly _anything_ ; how I got to where I was, or even where I had been before. My mind was totally blank, save for a few words floating around, but I had no idea if any of them were relevant.

I could hear giggling. "Ah, I'm sorry! I was so excited to see you that I forgot to do the important stuff! You're probably so confused about what's going on, right? Let me answer your questions!"

"Where am I? What is happening?" I spoke out into the empty area around me, not sure if they could even hear me.

A response came fairly quickly. "This is the gateway to the world of Pokemon! Many humans before you have traveled through here. We reach across the boundaries of both worlds when we really need some help!"

"So you're world is in trouble, and I'm going to save it?"  
"That's exactly it!"

I gulped. "Um... single-handedly?"  
"No, of course not, silly. You'll have help every step of the way!" Perhaps it was silly of me to ask that, but it was a relief to hear regardless.

Cohesive thoughts began to connect the jumble of words in my head. One of said words was "human", so at least I knew I was human, which was... something, at least. Aside from that, nothing really made sense.

"So... what should I do when I arrive?"

I heard something back after a short amount of time. "Have I answered all of your questions, friend?"

"Err... what will I need to do when I get there?"

Giggling again. "Why, defeat the one causing the problems!"

"That's true, but could you tell me anything else?"

"It's simple! Just find the ones causing the issues and stop them!"

"But what are the issues?"

"The issue is that there's something bad causing problems and we need you to stop them!"

Still stuck at square one here, voice... I decided against asking further.

"Now, any more questions, friend?"  
There was that word again. Friend. For some reason, it made me feel... odd. Conflicted, even. I asked myself again, trying even harder this time: did I know this voice? They didn't seem to be too keen on reminding me who they were. I didn't know if I felt annoyed because they didn't tell me, or guilty because I had forgotten...

"Don't be shy!" I jumped a bit when the voice suddenly spoke again. "You can ask me anything at all."

Anything at all? Well, alright then. "Who are you?"

"I'm your friend!"  
"Yes, I know, but... who are you? _What_ are you?"

"I'm your bestest friend!"

"Okay, sure, but who is my 'bestest friend'?"

"Your bestest friend is your best friend in the whole world! And it's me!"

"Then _who are you_?"

"I'm me! Your friend!"

I sighed, frustration quickly turning to anger. How did they expect me to save the world if they weren't going to tell me [i]anything[/i]? It was absurd!

...

Unless...

Was I already supposed to know?

I mean, I... I didn't know. Should I have?

Maybe it was some kind of code that I had forgotten?

I tried and tried to remember something else, _anything_ else, but I just couldn't. I was more in the dark than I had realized. I could feel my chest beginning to tighten.

"Still need answers, friend?"

"Yes, I do. Why do you keep calling me 'friend'?"  
"Because we're friends!"

That was beginning to sound familiar. I stopped before I got frustrated again.

"Anything else?" I gave no reply. "Okay, then it's time for the personality test!"

"...Personality test?"

"Yeah! So we can choose the Pokemon that's right for you! We wouldn't want you standing out, would we, friend?"

"Um... alright."  
"Great! So, I'm going to ask you a series of questions, and you give me answers!"

Answers?

"I... don't know anything. I can't give answers when I don't know anything."

"Sure you can! It's a personality test, right? Just tell me what comes naturally!"

What comes naturally? It seemed like the only option to move forward, so I didn't object.

The questions came immediately following my silence. "You see a sweet in front of you. It looks delicious! You check the expiration date and... it's off by a day. What do you do?"

Just had to say what came naturally. "I would... eat it?"

"Are you sure? I mean, it had that stuff on it for a reason, right? Who knows what could happen if you ate it?"

"W-well..."

"Then again, maybe it would be alright. It's just a day, how much harm could it really do you? Boy, to eat it or not to eat it... this sure is a tough question! I don't know if I could ever answer this. It's up to you, friend!"

"I-I... I would... um..."

"Ooh! Maybe you could break it into little pieces and share it! Or, or! You could try and find out what it was made of and make a fresh version of it to see how good it is at its prime! Or maybe even -"

I stopped listening and retracted mentally, totally speechless. What should I say? What was my answer? I struggled to find the words that would let me say what I was thinking.

I mean, it wasn't because I didn't know what I wanted to do, because I knew what I wanted to do: everything. _Every_ option was appealing to me. Eat it, don't eat it, tear it apart and share it, make my own: I wanted to do all of those things.

And at the same time, I didn't want to do any of them.

Every strong feeling was opposed by another; every weak feeling was opposed by another. Every feeling in the middle? Opposed by another. My mind was going through a mental tug-of-war, pulling back and forth, to and fro, every direction, never stopping, never settling, never coming to a conclusion. It was like there were small voices in my head, littering my thoughts with little fragments of opinions.

Actually, I could hear these voices very clearly.

 _eat it eat it it's just a day what harm could it do_

 _no don't eat it who knows what might happen_

 _share it sharing is nice_

 _but what if it's for one person but wait it's out of date you can't share that with others when it's out of date let's make more but what if they're terrible eat it don't eat it share it make more eat share it don't more make it share eat it it it it it it it it **it iT IT IT EAT SHARE MAKE DON'T SHARE EAT DON'T**_

The voices grew loud, and that small point of pressure that I had barely noticed before was now threatening to make me burst. Amidst the ones in my head, I could just make out the one that wasn't.

"So? What's your answer, friend?"

"I... I don't..."

"Are you alright, friend? You seem to be in an... odd condition."

"It... hurts..."

"Oh... Oh dear. This isn't something I'm familiar with, friend. We need to hurry you on your way. The questions are rather silly, anyway; better to let you decide what kind of Pokemon you become."

I couldn't handle any more decisions. The last one was threatening to _kill_ me, and that was just about whether or not I'd eat something. How could I possibly choose out of however many options there were when I struggled to do so with four?

"...nngh... f-first..."

"Yes, friend, that's what I was planning; showing you the first and moving from there. There's... several hundred choices, I think? We'd better get started sooner rather than later."

Several _hundred_? Fear welled up inside me. I could barely handle the voices in my head as it was; what if each choice made another? What was going to happen to me?

Why was this happening to me?

"...why...?"

Almost immediately after I spoke, the entire area was illuminated with a blinding flash of white light. The area filled with a high-pitched shrill. The pressure and the voices intensified to a degree that was totally unbearable.

And yet, I went from feeling like I was about to die to being so relaxed that it seemed unnatural. I felt like my entire being was melting, losing shape, yet it never hurt. If anything, it felt... good. Amidst the scream I could barely make out something else: another voice.

"STAY -TH HAZ- ASTA-"

That was all I could make out before I slipped back into darkness. The screaming ceased.

The pressure disappeared.

The voices... they stopped talking. They finally stopped talking. My mind was my own again.

Whatever happened to get me out of there... I didn't care. I was finally at peace again.


	3. Lost

The first thing I noticed when I woke up again was that everything was totally silent. The voices were still gone. They hadn't come back; I could think whatever I wanted again. My thoughts were my own, not just bits and pieces of several others. They were complete, whole, stable.

And the first one I had was how I had absolutely _no_ idea where I was. Looking around, I could recognize several things - a tree, a small bush, another tree, a third tree, another small bush, a... fourth tree? Was it a tree or a bush? It was kinda small, but not really that small, but it wasn't too big... Eventually I signed it off as a rare bush-tree and moved on. What it actually was didn't really matter; the twigs and leaves on the ground and all of the plants around told me that I was in a forest, pretty deep within if all the trees in the distance were any indication. At least, deep enough so that everywhere I looked appeared basically the same. Tree, tree, bush, tree, bush-tree... tree-bush? Every direction was some variant of that pattern. I frowned; I had no idea where to go to get out. Any path could have been correct, but nothing immediately jumped out at me.

Except for the spider.

...Well, okay, it didn't really jump out. It was just sort of... there. Regardless, I let out a small shrill of surprise. I had been so preoccupied by all of the foliage that I hadn't even noticed the Ariados that had been right in front of me the whole time. I knew it was an Ariados because that was the only thing it was saying to me as it stared me down, its gaze piercing through me. Its fangs were glistening and twitching ever so slightly, the only motion it was making. It began to creep towards me, its eyes locked on me. I felt the urge to run, to get away, but I remained motionless, feeling totally paralyzed. Why couldn't I move? I didn't feel any sort of resistance towards the thought of moving. I was completely sure that I _wanted_ to move.

When it got close, it started to move its head from side to side. It reached one of its appendages down below where my eyes were and tapped something, and to my surprise, I could feel it. It felt like little barbs, but more importantly, I now knew that I did indeed have some form of body, so I probably wasn't a ghost. What in the world was I?

"Ariados?" I snapped out of my thinking trance when the Ariados let out another small cry. The tone shifted up in pitch at the end - it must have been confused about something, which made two of us, though I think I had it beat by a long shot. It began to circle around me, poking and prodding every so often. I could feel each and every touch that it made. Most didn't last for more than a couple of seconds, except for one particular point where it not only held its appendage to my "body" for longer, but also applied some pressure. That barbed feeling intensified to the point where it even hurt a little bit, but thankfully it didn't keep it there for too long. It creeped to my front again and stared at me.

"Ari. Ariados." An appendage brushed against me, smoothly, gently. There were no barbs. It then scuttled off without another word, scattering the litter on the ground as it did so, making noise and leaving me even more confused. It had seemed so ready to bite me, yet all it did was give me some weird form of massage and leave.

Maybe it wanted me to follow it? I tried to walk towards where the spider had gone, but try as I might, I couldn't budge at all. I looked down at the ground around me to see if maybe I was caught in a trap or something, but I couldn't see the problem. All that was there were leaves and twigs. In fact, there didn't seem to be anything coming from me. When I looked directly down, I could see that I was connected to _something_ , but I couldn't really make out what it was. It seemed... odd, not seeing any proper body parts. The voice had implied that I was going to become a Pokemon, so it was probably alright that I didn't look human.

With nothing but free time since I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, I tried to deduce what I had become. Since I never actually chose, had I defaulted to something heroic? Something generic? Something... unspeakably horrible? I knew there were a lot of Pokemon species, at least, but that only meant that there were several hundred species that weren't me and only one that was. While having essentially nothing to go off of eliminated a lot of choices, it obviously didn't help me figure it out, either.

Which reminded me that I was still stuck who knows how deep in some forest that I didn't know the location of in a body that I wasn't familiar with, and again, I couldn't move around. Not the best set of circumstances, for sure.

It was then that I began to hear something. At first I thought it was the Ariados, but it was coming from a different direction, and it seemed silly that it'd circle around like that. Plus, there was something other than just rustling this time.

It was singing. Very happy singing.

Very _loud_ singing, and it was only getting louder. I tried to turn my head towards the source and found that I could do so with surprising ease - maybe too easily, actually, since I expected difficulty and nearly turned too far.

I saw something pink come into view. As it strolled further out and more of its body became visible, I could see that it was also very round. The were curls upon its head and frills adorned its body on its shoulders and around its... waist. I think. Maybe it was the hips. It was hard to tell. Its face appeared permanently locked into a wide smile, and it was still singing. And... were its eyes closed? Was it even aware that it was moving around?

"Hello? Are you alright?"

I blinked, realizing the Pokemon was now staring right at me. Apparently it wasn't as oblivious as I thought. I was caught by such surprise that I couldn't speak at first, though I didn't know if I could do more than just make shrills anyway.

"U-um... hello?" Relief washed over me; I could still make coherent sentences.

"What in the world are you doing here?" The pink Pokemon hurriedly came over to me; I now could see that it was white on the bottom half of its body. It was also holding an egg in a pouch on its front. An egg in a pouch... that sounded very familiar.

It must've been a Chansey.

"Hello?"

I snapped back to reality. Sidetracked again. "Oh, um... I... I don't know how I got here... or where I am... or... or anything, really..."

"Calm down, sweetie. Everything will be alright." The Chansey's placed one of her short arms upon me, exactly where the Ariados had just before it left. No barbs at all, and it felt... soothing, not like the peculiar sort of soothing that the Ariados had attempted to create, but a real, genuine soothing feeling. It wasn't unlike the feeling I had at the end of that gateway endeavor.

The Chansey's arm began to glow a gentle pink, which gradually ebbed towards me and surrounded the form that I had noticed earlier. It felt _exactly_ like it did in the gateway; warm, comforting... a little bit tingly as well. Any and all sounds around me seemed to have dissolved into nothingness, and the two of us remained like this for a very long time. Eventually the aura faded away, taking the pleasant feeling with it, and the Chansey brought her arm back to her side. She smiled down at me.

"Are you feeling better?" I nodded, hoping that moving my face up and down could be reasonably translated as such. The Chansey giggled. "That's good, that's good." She edged a little bit closer to me, bringing her face nearer to mine. "Now, do you remember anything? Maybe how you ended up here?"

I shook my head in the same sort of fashion as when I nodded. "No... I don't."

"Nothing? Nothing at all?"

"Well... there was this... place. But... I don't really know much about it."

"That's perfectly fine. Just tell me everything you remember. Even if it seems irrelevant, please let me know. Anything could be helpful."

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine myself back in the gateway. "It was dark and I couldn't see anything. I heard this voice, this really friendly-sounding voice, that told me that it had been looking for me and that I was in the 'gateway to the world of Pokemon'. And... and then... I... I don't..." I began to find it harder and harder to continue speaking as I started to remember the painful parts.

The Chansey placed her arm on me again, the gentle pink aura beginning to appear. "It's clear that you've been through a lot, dear. Say no more; I already have all I need to know." She placed her other arm upon me. "You deserve a nice, long rest."

She began singing again, but there was something this time that made it feel different from when she was singing previously. Each note was soft, delicate, gentle... it was as though she was channeling that pink aura into her very voice. Surrounded by that pink, relaxed by the smoothness of her voice, I gradually began to grow very, very tired.

"What's... happening...?"

She didn't answer. The singing probably made doing so verbally rather difficult.

It didn't really matter to me at that moment. I felt secure in the embrace of this Chansey.

Eventually the gentle singing gradually came to a close, and the warmth that the pink aura radiated into me also faded away. I was still so tired that I didn't bother trying to see what happened. I then suddenly felt as though I was being picked up. Gentle whispers caressed me. "I'll get you to safety, sweetie. Don't you worry about a thing."

I succumbed to my tiredness and fell asleep.

...

...

...

A piercing scream...

Too tired... probably fine...

...

Noises littered my mind...

"...go...away...!"

So tired...

"Pl...s...top...!"

Consciousness... slipping...

Just let it go...

 **Author's Note**

Hello there, reader. I'm CyndersWrath, but I prefer Cynder. I want to start off by thanking you for reading this chapter of Souls of Shadow.

I'm still trying to figure things out on this site (which is why there hasn't been an author's note until just now and why the chapter titles may look a bit odd sometimes), so please bear with me as I kinda get a feel for how things work.

As you can probably tell by the date of the last upload, I wouldn't expect this to be updated too often. School and all. I plan to see it to completion, though (however long that may take ^^; ), so if you're still alright with that, I'll do my best to give you a good read.

Cheers again for reading this chapter.

\- Cynder


	4. Reflections

...

...am I... awake? Asleep...?

It feels like both...

…

...how long... have we been travelling?

...

...

...I... hear something. Low... far away...

...can't understand...

...

...what's... going on...?

...the forest... that Ariados... this Chansey...

That... that gateway... and that voice... what did it say? Stay...th...haz...asta?

Stay... Staith? Hazasta? Staith... Hazasta?

What is... Staith Hazasta?

Some... some kind of... place? Name? Code?

Staith... Hazasta…

Staith...

...

...

...

...can't... hold on...

Too tired...

I woke up to a throbbing headache centered just behind my eyes. I struggled to keep them open as I tried to look around; where was I now? I certainly wasn't in a forest anymore; I seemed to be in some kind of room. The first thing I noticed was the brightly burning fire in its center, several large stones surrounding it. Just next to it was a blue creature with an absurdly long tail resting next to its body. A Vaporeon, perhaps? Not wishing to disturb it, I looked around the room a bit more. There was a round wall, probably made of wood, a few windows evenly spaced apart on it and a larger opening that presumably acted as the entrance, all of which were letting in some light. Containers lined the wall in a number of places, some nearly overflowing with berries, some holding what was presumably water, and some that appeared to be empty. The floor appeared to be made of stone and was rather clean. Piles of hay were arranged in an orderly circular fashion, all well-kept and vacant; looking down, I could see that I had been put on one myself. There was an apple nearby, placed neatly on a leaf.

Suddenly an overwhelming urge to yawn came over me, and I didn't try to fight it. When I had finished, I looked back down to find that the Vaporeon was looking at me.

"Oh, look at you. Finally done sleeping, huh?" Her voice was quiet and terse, and whether it was because of this or the shock of attracting her attention so easily, I found myself unable to respond. Thankfully, it didn't seem like she was waiting for me to do so; she stood up from her resting position and padded over to the entrance, moving a few steps outside. "Hey, Renae!" I couldn't quite see what was going on, and I still hadn't figured out how to move myself, but the creature did seem to stay there for a while. Eventually, she moved to the side, and I could see a familiar shape: a Chansey, just like before. She waited until the Chansey entered the room and then padded off alone. I turned my attention towards the newcomer, and the look I saw on her face made it very clear that this was the same one as before.

She rushed over to me and kneeled down as she had before, her body tinted slightly orange from the fire's light. "Hello there, dear Staith! How are you feeling?" Her tone was just as kind and sweet.

...

Did she say _Staith_? "Um... what did you just call me?"

"Staith. It is your name, is it not?"

"No, I don't think it is. My name is... is..." I tried hard, really hard, but I couldn't settle on anything. "I... don't know. I can't remember. But... why would you think that was my name of all things?"

She shrugged. "It was something you repeated over and over as you slept. Regardless, I think it is a lovely name, and since you can't remember your real one, I don't see the harm in adopting it for the time being."

"Okay, then... I guess you can call me Staith. It's... nice to meet you."

She gave me a warm smile. "I am Renae. It is a pleasure to meet you as well. Now, back to what I was asking before; how are you feeling?"

"I-I'm feeling... a little tired, but I'm fine, really."

Her smile shrank to a modest size, a tired sigh escaping her lips. "That's understandable, I'm afraid." She stood up. "I do apologize that I wasn't able to let you have proper sleep. I have a certain... quality that is usually rather helpful, but also doesn't allow those around me to have a restful sleep."

"Is that why that Vaporeon was here?"

"Indeed. She was also here for the fire, in case it went out of control for any reason." She looked over to the fire and thought for a moment. "I do hope it was to your liking. I will admit, it doesn't see much use. You are the first Pokemon other than myself in a long while to have stayed here."

"...Where is 'here', exactly? And, actually, where were we before?"

"Hmm? Ah, yes." She faced me again, looking a little flustered. "We are in Emera Town. Specifically, the hospital of Emera Town. The forest that we met in is known as the Clandestine Forest. Does that answer your questions?" It technically did, but it also raised even more questions, like why did I end up in a forest without any recollection of how I got there? Still, it seems like she would have told me already if she knew, so I nodded again, deciding to keep my other questions to myself.

But... not all of them. "I do have another question, too. Could you... tell me what I am?"

Her first response was to gesture to one of the containers I saw earlier, one that was directly underneath a window. "You can see for yourself if you prefer. There is a container with water that you can see your reflection in over here." That instantly sounded like the better option. When I gave her my approval, she brought me over to the water and carefully held me over it. I watched as the image of the window in the water was covered by my visage, the light from it now shining on the back of my head.

Well, maybe it was more like the back of my _face_ , as it didn't appear to me that I really had any sort of head at all. Regardless of how you might label it, it was pretty flat. There was a lot of purple gas and some green spheres arranged in a circle, both rotating very quickly. In the center were two green eyes and a jagged green mouth connected by a "V". Behind all of it was the part Renae was actually holding me by; the Odd Keystone.

All the details pointed to it; I was a Spiritomb.

Heh. Looks like I was wrong about not being a ghost.

"...Oh, wow, look at me. I'm, um... spinning a lot. Heh..." I was struggling to keep my spirits up, pun completely intentional.

"Are you... content?"

"Yeah... yeah, I am." I don't know if I would have used that word in particular. She took me back over to the bed I had been in and set me back down.

"I can tell that you aren't happy about your form."

"Yeah, it's just... I don't know. I think it's the whole 'no limbs' thing. It's weird."  
"You'll grow accustomed to your new body. I'm sure of it." I gave her a smile as thanks for trying to cheer me up, which, given my unsettling mouth, I could only hope didn't have an undertone of "slasher". "Now, I do not wish to rush you, but unless you have some other questions, there are some important matters that we must attend to, namely going to Town Hall to meet with our leader."

"Actually, yeah, one more question. How were you able to move me on your own? Isn't this Keystone, like, really heavy?"

"I'm stronger than I look."

"I'm still kinda impressed. It's my own body and even I can't move it."

She laughed a bit. "I doubt that. You likely did not have all of your energy when last you tried. Now that you've had some rest, you'll probably be more successful." She went over to the entrance. "See if you can come over to me by yourself."

The only option seemed to be to just kinda... will myself to move. Surprisingly it worked; I had risen into the air and was floating towards the entrance. Never did I think I could be so excited by the mere act of moving, but those first few inches were exhilarating for me. I wasn't going very fast, but I was able to make it to Renae on my own.

"...Wow. That was a lot easier than I expected."

"Very well done. I'm happy to see that you were successful."

"Oh? Is that because you don't need to carry me anymore?" I joked.

"Well, I wouldn't have minded, but I suppose Town Hall is quite the walk from here," she replied, leaving me wondering if the humor went unnoticed. "Regardless, are you ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Then we shall be on our way. Before that, however, allow me a moment to extinguish the fire."

...Extinguish it? Her? "Um... how?"

"You'll see." She walked over to another side of me, probably so I could see what she was about to do. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a brief moment, while a strange blue aura began to appear around her arm. I eagerly anticipated what it was she was about to do, and was focused wholly on her.

"Renae!"

That certainly didn't sound like Renae talking to me. It seemed like she was just as surprised as I was, given that she gasped and the blast of water that pulsed from her arm missed the fire by a pretty wide margin, instead splashing directly onto one of the other hay beds and scattering it everywhere. So much for all of them being well-kept. We turned to find that it was the Vaporeon again, standing at the entrance.

Renae composed herself before she began speaking. "Oh, hello. I... thought you needed to return to your shop quickly."  
Her gaze was focused completely on Renae. "I need to talk with the new arrival for a sec."

"Well, we must be heading over to Town Hall soon. Is it urgent?"  
"It'll only take a moment, I promise. You can even wait outside if you want, but I need to talk to them." She sounded desperate. "Please."

Renae sighed. "If you insist. Just... be mindful of yourself, okay?"

"I-I will, I will." She seemed very anxious as Renae walked out of the building, leaving me and the Vaporeon alone once again.

She wasted no time. "You're a human, right?"

"U-um... yes?"

She nodded. "That's what I thought. Not that I think Renae would lie to me, but... Anyway, listen. Just because you got called here doesn't mean you can't be hurt, or worse. You're not always going to be found by a Blissey if you get lost, so don't do anything stupid. Got it?" When I nodded, she stepped back a bit. "Good. That's all I wanted to say."

She left the building, leaving me feeling very confused. Where in the world had _that_ come from? She had seemed so disinterested in me before. Also, what happened to "being mindful"?  
And... did she say Renae was a Blissey?

Like... as in the evolved form of Chansey? But not actually a Chansey?

So calling her a Chansey was incorrect?

...

I wasn't sure how to feel about that. I was _really_ certain about it for some reason.

The Vaporeon came back into the room, Renae the _Blissey_ following behind, who came over to me immediately. "Now, just a moment as I put out the fire."

"Actually, Renae, let me." The Vaporeon bolted towards the fire, landing with her body just outside the ring of stones. "I'm here, I may as well do it, right?"

Renae nodded. "As you wish." The Vaporeon eyed the fire for a moment, looking deep in thought, before getting up close and pointing her head towards its base. Her head tilted back slightly, then relaxed, a small stream of water now pouring from her mouth. The fire let out an audible hiss as it died, the light from the room disappearing alongside it. A shade of darkness coated everything in the room, including the Vaporeon. When she turned to face us, I could see light reflecting off of her eyes.

"Okay, done. No need to worry about the place catching fire now." She ducked out of the room, stopping to turn her head. "I really should be heading back now. Don't think I need to say this, but take care of them for me. And make sure they eat that apple. It's just been sitting there." Renae didn't say a word, but she did pick up said apple.

She stared at it and waited until the Vaporeon left before she spoke. "Strange. I didn't give you an apple." She shrugged, placing it down next to me and giving me a moment to eat it. Once I was done, the two of us headed into the rest of the town.

Renae wasn't going at a pace that left room for sightseeing, but I did manage to see some things as we walked. For starters, the square was actually pretty barren; there weren't many other Pokemon around, nor was there any sort of decoration or anything in the square itself. About all there was to see were the three nearby buildings arranged in a semicircle, which included the hospital. The appearance of it on the outside was uncannily like Renae, down to a set of windows near the top that looked like eyes, which was... a bit creepy, really. The building next to it was a bit more normal; it had brown, rectangular walls extending up to a dome-shaped roof with brown zig-zags decorating the bottom and white at the peak. There was a red-and-white awning over the entrance and all kinds of flowers growing in gardens on either side. I could make out the word "inn" on the sign in front of it. During the brief time we walked by it, there was a lovely scent of sweetness in the air. The last building was a modestly-sized stall that looked like a Kecleon, which seemed to be totally barren.

Off in the distance on the side opposing the three buildings, there was a large tent colored with bright stripes of blue and yellow. There was a dirt path that seemed to lead up to it, which looked strange given that the rest of the square was stone.

Still, our destination wasn't any of these; Renae pointed it out once it came into view.

It was a very large tree.

"Town Hall is a tree?"

"Our leader chose it some time ago; it'll make more sense when we get there."

Once we got to the entrance, I could really bask in how large it actually was. It wasn't that wide, but it was tall. Like, r _eally_ tall; you could probably see all kinds of things if you were at the top. Back down on ground level, there was an entrance that wasn't much more than a hole in the wall, but what caught my attention was what seemed to be stairs trailing from one side of it and spiralling around the thick trunk, disappearing as I looked higher up. I floated over to the first step and looked up, questions flooding my head. How far up did it go? Did it go all the way up to the top? Was it even safe to use? Renae, however, didn't have the same interest that I did in it, and after nudging me to get my focus back, we instead walked through the more mundane doorway.

It was pretty dark inside; no windows, no fire, nothing. The light coming from the entrance only illuminated an empty wooden floor. "Um... it's... kinda hard to see in here."

"Some of us only need the smallest bit of light to see through the darkness." A figure gradually came into view as it entered into the light. It was a Noctowl, excellent eyebrows and all. "Someone like you may one day gain such an ability." He seemed to be examining me. "Or do you already have it?"

"A-actually, no. I... need light."

The Noctowl chuckled. "Don't we all?"

Renae put me down in front of her. "This Spiritomb is a new arrival. They're human."

"Human?" He kept staring at me, not moving. "Yes... yes, I see now."

"Um... What do you see?"

"I could see that you were a species we don't tend to have here, and knowing that you're human gives reason for that."

...Oh. Indeed. I guess I was expecting something more... profound.

After that strange beginning to the conversation, Renae convinced the Noctowl, who introduced himself as Noctus, to step outside in the daylight. She explained where and when she had found me and what we had done up to that point.

Noctus preened himself before he spoke. "So you were attacked by Ariados as you returned?"

"Yes, it was rather strange. They followed out further than I would have expected."

"I see." He turned to me. "Staith. You were attacked by one yourself, weren't you?"

I hadn't yet mentioned my encounter, nor did I think I had implied it. Still, he gave me a look like it was a serious question. "Well, I'm not sure I'd really call it 'attacking'; all it really did was twirl around me a couple of times."

"That's what I was afraid of. They went out further than expected because they used you."

"Used me? For what?"

"To find more prey."

 **Author's Note**

Place this a bit lower, and... there! Probably better down here.

Hello again, reader. I wanted to mention that I gave some of the previous chapters actual names rather than Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

Since I already have you, thank you again for reading this story.

All the best,

Cynder

*EDIT 1/17/18* Altered some text to make the reading a bit more smooth.


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